Songanizer allows you to enter information about your record collection in a different way than other music databases. With Songanizer, the song and album databases are separate, allowing you greater flexibility with your data. Full mouse support on all options makes navigation easier. Songanizer is capable of fast searches, large data files, report generation, and user configuration of screen size, color, and printers.
Songanizer is not just a cataloger! Although you can use Songanizer to catalog your record collection, its strength is in cross-referencing songs to albums.
About Songanizer
Selecting this option will display information about Songanizer, such as version number and registration information.
File Information
File Information lists the number of songs and the number of albums in their respectful database files.
DOS Shell
By using the DOS Shell, you can exit Songanizer temporarily to gain access to DOS. Type "EXIT" to return to Songanizer and continue your session.
Quit
This option will end Songanizer.
Song Entry
The Song Entry screen is where information about a song is entered. To display this screen you can either:
o Use the keyboard by entering "<Alt-E> S"
o Use the mouse and press on the "Edit" menu item, then on "Song Entry"
o Press the "F2" key
Find Song
The Find Song screen is used to search the song database. To display this screen you can either:
o Use the keyboard by entering "<Alt-E> F"
o Use the mouse and press on the "Edit" menu item, then "Find Song"
o Press the "F3" key
By entering certain data, you can search the song database. Songanizer finds the closest match to the data you enter. There are four searches that you can request.
o Name Search: Enter a full or partial name in the "Name" input line
and Songanizer will find the closest match to the name you enter.
o Artist Search: Enter a full or partial Artist name.
o Album Search: Enter a full or partial Album name.
o Artist/Album Search: Enter a full or partial Artist and Album, and
Songanizer will find the closest song that matches these two fields.
This search is useful when you wish to view all songs on a particular
album.
Pressing the "Find" button will bring up the "Song
Found" screen, which will contain the closest matching information.
Album Entry
The Album Entry screen is used to enter information about a particular album. To view this screen:
o Use the keyboard by entering "<Alt-E> A"
o Use the mouse to press on the "Edit" menu item, then "Album Entry"
o Press the "F4" key
In this screen, you will enter the name and artist, record label, release date, and category. e
Also, there is a 3 line comments field, which is for personal use, and can contain any information. K
Media type will allow you to check off the various formats of your album.
The Album Entry screen will also allow you to enter songs that are on the album more quickly, using FastAdd, instead of the entering them in the Song Entry screen.
Find Album
The Find Album screen is used to search the Album Database. To view this screen:
o Use the keyboard by entering "<Alt-E> F"
o Use the mouse to press on the "Edit" menu item, then "Find Album"
o Press the "F5" key
Enter either a full or partial album name, or a full or partial artist name, and then press the "Find" button to search the album database. Songanizer will find the closest matching album to the data you entered.
If a match is found, the "Album Information" screen will be displayed, and will contain the information that was found. This information can be edited, viewed in more detail, or deleted. You can also add more songs as well.
Song List
The Song List report will either display, print, or save a list of all current songs in the Song database.
Album List
The Album List report will either display, print, or save a list of all current albums in the Album database.
Album Detail
The Album Detail report will either display, print, or save a list of all the current albums in the Album database, and will contain detail containing a song list, comments, and media type.
Rebuild Databases
Use the Rebuild Databases option to create a new Song and Album database. This is useful after you delete many items in a database, and wish to compress the databases for speed.
Songanizer will automatically rebuild any database that it feels is corrupted at execution time. If you believe that databases have become corrupted, you can also use this option to create a new, updated version. Z
Note that rebuilding databases requires a large amount of disk space for the conversion.
Change Screen Size
Use this option to toggle between 25 and 50 column mode.
Printer Setup
Printer Setup will allow you to configure Songanizer to work with either a dot matrix or laser printer.
Songanizer allows output to various output devices, either parallel or serial. You can also edit the control codes needed to print various text if you are using a non-standard printer.
Modify Colors
The Modify Colors selection allows you to modify the way Songanizer looks. All entry screens, menu items, and the background itself can be changed.
Save Options
This will save all current settings, so that the next time Songanizer is run, your configuration will be loaded and will become active.
Song Found
Once Songanizer finds a match on your search data, the "Song Found" screen is displayed. This screen looks familiar to the Song
Entry
Screen screen, but with more option buttons. Options available on this screen are: J
o Remove : This will remove (delete) the song from the song database
o Edit : You can change any piece of information in the entry
screen. Pressing the "Edit" button will save any new
changes.
o Detail : This button will display the Album
Information
screen, which contains the album information of the
currently displayed song, as well as a number of album
options.
o Prev : Selects the previous song in the search.
o Next : Selects the next song in the search.
Album Information
Pressing "Detail" from the Song
Found
screen will display the Album Information screen, which will contain album information based on the currently displayed song in the Song Found screen. The following options are available in this screen: T
o Edit : You can change any piece of information in the entry screen.
Pressing the "Edit" button will save any new information.
o Tracks : This option will list all the entered songs that are on
this album.
o FastAdd: This option allows you to enter more songs on
this album without having to re-key the same album and
artist name.
o Delete : Removes this album from the Album database.
o Prev : Selects the previous album in the search.
o Next : Selects the next album in the search.
FastAdd
FastAdd allows you to enter a series of songs based on an album and artist. This option is available on both the Album
Information and the Album
Entry screens.
Entering songs in FastAdd is easy. Enter the name of the song and press <Return>. The song will be added to the Song database without having to repeat the album and artist names. To stop entry, press the "Close" button.
File Information
This screen will display the number of songs on the Song database and the number of albums in the Album database.
Song Entry
This is the Song Entry screen. To enter a song into the Song database, type the name, artist, and album name into each of the input lines. In order for the song to be saved, each line must have data entered. R
Press the "Save" button to enter the song, or press "Close" to cancel the entry.
If you need to enter a line of input multiple times, press the history list button, located to the right of each input line. From there, you can choose from a list of previously entered information.
Find Song
This screen initiates the search for a song.
By entering certain data, you can search the song database. Songanizer finds the closest match to the data you enter. There are four searches that you can request.
o Name Search: Enter a full or partial name in the "Name" input line
and Songanizer will find the closest match to the name you enter.
o Artist Search: Enter a full or partial Artist name.
o Album Search: Enter a full or partial Album name.
o Artist/Album Search: Enter a full or partial Artist and Album, and
Songanizer will find the closest song that matches these two fields.
This search is useful when you wish to view all songs on a particular
album.
Enter information into this screen following one of the search methods listed above, and press the "Find" button. Songanizer will find and display the song that best matches your search criteria. Press on "Cancel" to abort the search.
If you need to enter a line of input multiple times, press the history list button, located to the right of each input line. From there, you can choose from a list of previously entered information.
Find Album
Enter either a full or partial album name or a full or partial artist name, and press the "Find" button, and Songanizer will search the album database for the closest match. Press "Cancel" to abort the search.
If you wish to repeat a search, you can press the history button located to the right of each line. You then can choose from a list of previous searches.
Album Entry
To enter an album into the database, you must fill in at least the Album Name and the Artist input lines. All other information is optional, and can be left blank or filled in at a later time. K
Press the "Save" button to enter the album information into the database. Q
Press "FastAdd" to enter a series of songs that are associated with this album.
Note: Pressing the "FastAdd" button does not automatically save the album into the database; you still must press the "Save" button.
If you need to enter a line of input multiple times, press the history list button, located to the right of each input line. From there, you can choose from a list of previously entered information.
Album Information
The Album Information screen is used to change or delete album information that was previously saved. U
Press the "Edit" button to save the changed information to the Album database file.
To remove the album from the database, press the "Delete" button. Any songs associated with this album will still remain in the Song database.
You can add more associated songs by pressing the "FastAdd" button. An easy way to view all songs associated with this album is with the "Tracks" button.
To view the next album in the database, press the "Next" button. To view the previous album in the database, press the "Prev" button.
If you need to enter a line of input multiple times, press on the history list button, located to the right of each input line. From there, you can choose from a list of previously entered information.
Tracks Button
The Tracks option will display a movable, sizeable window containing all the current songs associated with the currently displayed album. {
This is useful for when you need to quickly view the songs that you have entered to be associated with the current album.
Printer Selection
Songanizer supports both dot matrix and laser printers. Before any reports can be printed, you must configure your printer selections. Choose the device that your printer is connected to by pressing the corresponding button. @
If you are using a laser printer, select the "Laser" checkbox.
Songanizer takes advantage of a laser printer by printing some of its reports in landscape mode, so that more information is printed on your reports. Songanizer will best fit reports on the page if you have a dot matrix printer.
If you are not using an Epson compatible dot matrix printer, or an HP compatible laser printer, you must select the "Setup" button to define the correct codes needed to print your reports. Consult your printer manual if you not sure.
Printer Setup - Nonstandard Printers
If you do not have a standard printer, you can override the default print codes. The amount of information you need to supply depends on the type of printer you are using (Dot
Matrix or Laser).
Dot Matrix Printer Configuration
If you do not have an Epson compatible printer, you must override the default print codes in order for Songanizer to correctly print your reports.
This screen shows the codes that will be used in printing reports next to its description. To change the code, consult your printer manual for the correct code, and enter it in the corresponding input line.
When you are finished, press the "OK" button. The changes will not go into effect until you press the "OK" button in the Printer
Setup screen as well.
Note: If you wish to change a code you entered back to the default value, you can delete the code until the input line is completely blank. Pressing "OK" will return the value to its default.
Laser Printer Configuration
If you do not have an HP compatible printer, you must override the default print codes in order for Songanizer to correctly print your reports.
This screen shows the codes that will be used in printing reports next to its description. To change the code, consult your printer manual for the correct code, and enter it in the corresponding input line.
When you are finished, press the "OK" button. The changes will not go into effect until you press the "OK" button in the Printer
Setup screen as well.
Note: If you wish to change a code you entered back to the default value, you can delete the code until the input line is completely blank. Pressing "OK" will return the value to its default.
Songanizer takes advantage of laser printers by printing detailed reports in landscape mode, so that it can print the most information available.
Rebuild Database Files
When you choose to rebuild the database files, both the Song and the Album database files are read one record at a time, and then placed in a new file. Once this process is completed, the old files are deleted, and the newly created files become your working database files.
Rebuilding the databases is useful when you feel that the files have become corrupted (although Songanizer will check for valid databases at the start of your session), or when you have done a large amount of deletions.
When you remove a song or an album from the file, a gap occurs in the file. This gap can be used by another song or album, but for speed considerations, rebuilding of the databases strips out these gaps, leaving a file containing only active data records.
Note that the time to rebuild depends on your computing power, and the size of your databases. Also, you will need roughly two times the disk space for the rebuild, otherwise this process is not possible. You will be notified of the success or failure of the rebuild.
Setting Colors
Songanizer allows you to set the colors of the desktop, menu items, and entry screens. To set a color of an item, highlight one of the color groups. Item that can be changed will appear in the Items box.
Highlight the item you wish to change, then select a foreground and/or background color. When finished, press the "OK" button. The colors will take effect immediately. To abort color selection, press the "Cancel" button.
If you would like these colors as the default the next time you run Songanizer, you must select the Save
Options menu option.
Song Found Screen
The Song Found screen is displayed once a match is made on the data you entered in the Find
Song screen. The matching song is displayed in the input lines, along with various options. H
To delete this song from the Song database, press the "Remove" button.
If you wish to make changes to this song's information, you may do so by changing the data in any of the three input lines, and pressing the "Edit" button.
Pressing the "Detail" button does one of two things, depending on whether there is information about the album that the song is on. If album information exists, the "Detail" button will display the Album
Information screen with the current information. If no album information exists, the Album Information screen displays just the album and artist information based on the current song. Either way, you can edit the information located on the album screen. j
Pressing either the "Prev" or "Next" button will display the previous or next song in the Song database. &
Press "Cancel" to close this screen.
FastAdd Screen
FastAdd will allow you to enter a series of songs based on an album title. By entering a song title and pressing <Return>, you can enter a series of songs for a particular album, instead of entering the album and artist name for each song title. *
To stop entry, press the "Close" button.
Report Output
Any report that you generate can either be sent to the printer, the screen or saved to a file. Before choosing an output device, consider these factors:
Reports to be viewed on the screen or saved for later use will require extra disk space. Consult your manual for the appropriate amount needed for each report.
Reports that are to be printed require that you have previously set up your printer configurations via the Printer
Setup menu item.
Viewing Reports
Reports are viewed on the screen by the movable, sizeable window. To display various parts of the report, use the arrow keys and the PageUp and PageDown keys on the keyboard, or use the mouse to press on the horizontal and vertical scroll bars.
The report screen can hold roughly 200 lines of a report at a time. To view other pages of larger reports, press the "+" and the "-" keys to move up and down a page at a time. The next/previous page will be displayed in the report screen starting at the first line of that page.
To stop viewing a report, press the "Esc" key on the keyboard, or use the mouse to press on the close icon (the square in the upper left corner).
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